Mattress handle with multiple spring engaging rod

ABSTRACT

A mattress handle consisting of a flexible handle extending through the border panel of a mattress with ends loosely engaged with an anchor wire which in turn is loosely engaged with a pair of coil springs and which spans a plurality of coil springs of the mattress.

United States Patent [191 Bartz et al.

[ Jan, 14, 1975 MATTRESS HANDLE WITH MULTIPLE SPRING ENGAGING ROD [75] Inventors: Fred H. Bartz; Kenneth W. Dethloff,

both of Milwaukee, Wis.

[73] Assignees: Fred H. Bartz; Kenneth W. Dethloff [22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1973 21 Appl. No: 426,610

[52] US. Cl 5/345 B [51] Int. Cl. A47c 23/00 [58] Field of Search 5/345 B; 16/110 R, 114 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,021,238 ll/l935 Karr 5/3458 2,274,027 2/1942 Allen 5/345 B 2,322,995 6/1943 Allen 5/345 B 2,584,842 2/1952 Caster 5/345 B Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam Assistant Examiner-Andrew M. Calvert Attorney, Agent, or FirmMann, lBrown, McWilliams & Bradway [57] ABSTRACT A mattress handle consisting of a flexible handle extending through the border panel of a mattress with ends loosely engaged with an anchor wire which in turn is loosely engaged with a pair of coil springs and which spans a plurality of coil springs of the mattress.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED I 41975 SHEET 1 BF 3 SHEET 3 BF MATTRESS HANDLE WITH MULTIPLE SPRING ENGAGING ROD The present invention is concerned with improvements in the construction of handles for inner spring mattresses.

Many inner spring mattresses are provided with ham dles which are intended for use in manipulating the mattresses. In many cases such handles are attached to the side panels of the mattress by use of grommets through which the ends of the handle extend. The inner ends of the handle abut against a reinforcing plate or bar on the inner side of the side panel and grommets when an outward force is exerted on the handle when using the handle. Such constructions impose rather severe stresses on the side panels and oftentimes result in tearing or breaking the side panels. Mattresses are quite bulky and difficult to manipulate.

In the past, efforts have been made to reduce stresses on the mattress side panels with various connecting structure for the handles but these past efforts have not gone into widespread use for some reason or another. For example, Caster, US. Pat. No. 2,584,842 discloses a handle construction wherein the inner ends of the handle are connected to a stay rod that extends between the border wires of the mattress spring unit. This necessarily imposes some stress or strain on the side panels of the unit when the spring units are distorted or stressed to any significant extent. Also, the handle connection with the stay rod or wire is disposed relatively close to the side panel construction of the mattress which in turn also imposes stress on the side panel.

Ferguson, Pat. No. 2,662,235 discloses another handle construction which in one form uses a support wire for theends of the handle and which is attached to the border wires of the spring unit or, in another form, to a pair of coil springs within the unit. In this construction the support wire for the ends of the handle may yield with yielding of the inner spring unit and results in some stresses again being transmitted to the side panel of the mattress through which the handle extends.

With the foregoing in mind, the major purposes of the present invention are to form mattress handles in a simple and economic fashion and which utilizes a connection wherein the ends of the handle are freely slidable through the side panel of the mattress and which are connected in a novel manner to a number of coil springs within the inner spring unit so as to distribute stresses encountered during the use of the handle to a number of coil springs, all while minimizing imposition of stresses on the side panels of the mattress during use.

These and other purposes of the invention will appear from time to time in the course of the ensuing specification and claims when taken with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical mattress which may be provided with manipulating handles of the type embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a layout view of the several parts employed in the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view, in section, of a typical inner spring unit provided with a spring connecting, spanning or anchor rod utilized with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top view, in section, illustrating the manner of attaching a mattress handle to the anchor rod or wire of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a top view, in section, of a modified form of the invention utilizing the principles of handle connection illustrated in FIGS. I-4 but using a different connection between the ends of the handle and anchor rod.

Like elements are designated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

With reference to the drawings, and, in particular, to FIG. 1, the numeral generally indicates a typical inner spring mattress construction. The construction is illustrated with top and bottom cover panels 11 and 12, respectively, and side and end panels 13. In mattresses of this type, handle assemblies, generally designated at 14, are positioned at and through the side panels to enable manipulation of the mattress, as when carrying the same or when inverting the mattress on a bed.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, ticking is employed between the top and bottom panels 11 and 12 and an inner spring unit consisting of plural coil springs 15. Inner spring units in mattresses of this type typically consist of plural rows of equally spaced coil springs 15 with the springs and rows generally uniformly spaced throughout the mattress interior. Border wires connect the springs in the rows of springs defining the borders of the unit, and springs within the unit are connected together.

In accordance with the invention, an anchor rod 16, which may be formed from wire stock, extends through a plurality of the springs 15 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Anchor rod 16 extends linearly and has hooked end portions 17 which are hooked over the wires of coil springs as designated at 18 and 19 in FIGS. 3 and 4. Anchor rod 16 is positioned generally centrally between the upper and lower surfaces of the mattress and inner spring unit. The rod has a length such as to extend through one coil spring and be hooked over the spring wires of coil springs positioned laterally to each side of the one central spring, which for purposes of illustration, may be considered the middle coil spring 15a appearing in FIG. 3. The anchor rod should have a length such as to extend through several coil springs. Preferably, the length is such as to span at least four coil springs. A length such as to span five, six or more springs is advantageous because, as will be noted in the following, the greater lengths of the anchor rod distributes forces on the anchor rod through a greater number of coil springs.

The anchor rod may be assembled to the coil springs prior to sewing of the side panels to the mattress. The hooked ends 17 of the anchor rod may be crimped after placement over the spring wires so as to prevent dislodgment of the anchor wire from the springs. The crimping should be such that some play or looseness occurs between the hooked end portions 17 of the anchor rod and the springs to which. they are secured, so that the anchor rod 16 may slide to some extent over the wires of the springs to which it is secured.

Anchor rod 16 acts as a support and connection for a handle assembly 14 of the mattress. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the handle assembly includes a flexible handle 20 having eyelets 21 and 22 formed at the ends thereof. The handle 20 extends through spaced grommet fasteners 23 and 24 which pass through the side panel 13 and which fix the side panels 13 to a reinforcing plate 25. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the reinforcing plate 25 is positioned on the inner side of the side panel 13 while pieces of the grommets 23 and 24 clamp the reinforcing plate to the side panel. The grommets 23 and 24 have apertures therein which are aligned with apertures 25a in the reinforcing plate. The ends of the handle 20 extend through these aligned openings.

The eyelets or looped ends of the handle 20 are fastened over the anchor wire 16. This may be done conveniently in the manufacturing process by passing ends of the handle stock, which may be nylon rope or other rope, through the openings in the grommets and reinforcing plate, after which the end portions of the handle are looped as illustrated in FIG. 2. These loops are formed over the anchor wire 16. The end portions of the handle are then clamped together defining the eyelets through use of clamping rings 26. The clamping rings may take the form of wire stock which is bent with a tool so as to clamp the ring around the end portions of the handle and form a fixed and secure eyelet construction through which the anchor rod passes.

After assembly of the handle and anchor rod as described, the side panel 13 may then be sewn to the remainder of the mattress.

The eyelets should be formed so that the connection with the anchor wire is relatively loose to allow some endwise play between the eyelets and the anchor rods.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modified form of the invention. In FIG. 5 the reinforcing plate 25 is secured to the side panel 13 through use of grommets 23 and 24 as previously described. Anchor rod 16 is assembled with coil springs as illustrated in the manner previously described. In FIG. 5, however, the handle is defined by a cylindrical section of plastic material as, for example, nylon, polypropylene, vinyl, or other plastic material having sufficient strength. The handle 27 is flexible, as is the case with the handle of FIGS. 2 and 4. In FIG. 5 the ends of the handle have sleeves 28 which are telescoped over the ends of the handle 27 and clamped thereto or otherwise fixed thereto as by use of pins or the like. The sleeves 28 are formed with hooked extensions 29 which are hooked over the anchor rod 16. The sleeves and extensions may be formed from metal and with the hooked end portions initially configured to easily fit over anchor rod 16, after which the hooked end portions are bent or crimped to prevent separation of the hooked end portions from the anchor rod 16. The operation of securing the hooked end portions to the anchor rod should be such as to prevent dislodgment while at the same time allowing such looseness of fit that relative movement between the hooked end portions and anchor rod l6 can occur in axial directions relative to rod 16.

Each handle 14 of the mattress may be formed as described above, with separate anchor rods for each handle.

It will be noted that the anchor rod 16 spans at least three and preferably four, five or six coil springs. The ends of the rod are loosely received over the coil springs with which they are connected, thereby enabling relative movement of the rod relative to the connecting springs and relative to the coil springs inbe tween the connecting springs. This relative movement allows the rod to move outwardly into engagement with all of the spring units through which the rod extends, thereby distributing stresses encountered during use of the handle on all of these springs. The stresses so distributed are insufficient so as to permanently distort any one or more of the springs. Also, it should be noted that the connections between the ends of the handle and the rod are also relatively loose, which allows free pivotal movement of the handle as a whole, and since the handle itself is flexible, the handle itself may yield to aid in the transmission of stresses from the handle through the rod, and to the coil springs.

Some distortion of side panels of mattresses will occur during use of the present invention but this distortion is due in the main to simple bending of the mattress and/or inner spring units as distinguished from distortion which occurs from stresses imposed on the side panels.

The anchor rod has a length just sufficient to be hooked over the wires of the spring at the ends of a group of springs without distorting any of those springs. The rod has a length between the centers of the hooked end portions generally equal to the distance between the axes of the springs to which the rod is connected. Thus, the hooked ends may occupy the same relative position on the springs to which they are connected, as illustrated in the drawings. When inserting this rod in position, the coil springs at the end of the group may be distorted slightly to enable the hooked ends of the stay wire to be passed thereover and hooked in place.

We claim:

1. An inner spring mattress and handle construction including an inner spring mattress having side panels and end panels extending around an inner spring unit, upper and lower cover panels above and below said spring unit, and upper and lower border wires underlying said upper and lower cover panels respectively extending around the periphery of said spring unit, said inner coil spring unit including a first row of coil springs parallel to and adjacent one side panel, a second row of coil springs parallel to and adjacent said other side panel, a plurality of coil springs disposed intermediate said first and second rows, said coil springs of said first and second rows connected at their upper end to said upper border wire and at their lower end to said lower border wire, an anchor rod connected at each end to spaced apart coil springs in said first row, said rod extending through at least one coil spring disposed intermediate said sapced apart coil springs, said rod being disposed within the radial confines of said coil springs, a flexible handle extending through a side panel of said mattress having end portions loosely secured to said anchor rod such that when outward pulling forces are exerted on said handle, said anchor rod distributes said forces to said coil springs with which it is associated.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said handle has end portions passing through grommeted openings in said side panels and including a backup reinforcing plate positioned on the inner side of said side panel, said handle ends extending through apertures in said reinforcing plate.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said anchor rod extends through a plurality of coil springs in said first row disposed intermediate said spaced apart springs,

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein said handle end portions have eyelets formed thereon and said anchor rod extends through said eyelets.

5. The structure of claim 2 wherein said handle ends have hooked portions at the ends thereof and said hooked portions are snap-fitted over said anchor rod. tit =l i 

1. An inner spring mattress and handle construction including an inner spring mattress having side panels and end panels extending around an inner spring unit, upper and lower cover panels above and below said spring unit, and upper and lower border wires underlying said upper and lower cover panels respectively extending around the periphery of said spring unit, said inner coil spring unit including a first row of coil springs parallel to and adjacent one side panel, a second row of coil springs parallel to and adjacent said other side panel, a plurality of coil springs disposed intermediate said first and second rows, said coil springs of said first and second rows connected at their upper end to said upper border wire and at their lower end to said lower border wire, an anchor rod connected at each end to spaced apart coil springs in said first row, said rod extending through at least one coil spring disposed intermediate said sapced apart coil springs, said rod being disposed within the radial confines of said coil springs, a flexible handle extending through a side panel of said mattress having end portions loosely secured to said anchor rod such that when outward pulling forces are exerted on said handle, said anchor rod distributes said forces to said coil springs with which it is associated.
 2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said handle has end portions passing through grommeted openings in said side panels and including a backup reinforcing plate positioned on the inner side of said side panel, said handle ends extending through apertures in said reinforcing plate.
 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said anchor rod extends through a plurality of coil springs in said first row disposed intermediate said spaced apart springs.
 4. The structure of claim 2 wherein said handle end portions have eyelets formed thereon and said anchor rod extends through said eyelets.
 5. The structure of claim 2 wherein said handle ends have hooked portions at the ends thereof and said hooked portions are snap-fitted over said anchor rod. 